


no one can save me (but you)

by letusbebrave



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-16
Updated: 2013-12-16
Packaged: 2018-01-04 19:10:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1084686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letusbebrave/pseuds/letusbebrave
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: In F.Z.Z.T. instead of Fitz running into the lab, make it Skye. (Thus you see Skye’s reaction to Simmons jumping and the aftermath interaction between them.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	no one can save me (but you)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for the prompt! Sorry it took so long for me to fill it. I hope you enjoyed it! It broke my heart thinking of my babies like this <3.

* * *

“I don’t know what to do, Skye,” Jemma admitted. The tears flooded her gaze. She knew that she had been getting snappy with the other girl and it was no excuse that she was scared. Especially when Skye began to cry-- Simmons knew that she had been too harsh. She hadn’t meant to.

This—it didn’t just effect her. It was going to affect the entire team.

Simmons had already tried to explain it all to Fitz, but Skye seemed even harder to get through to. Simmons could read Fitz—she had been able to do so since they started at the academy together. They had gone through too much together for her _not_ to know what he was really feeling.

With Skye—Simmons was just getting to know her.

They had… _moments_ between the two of them. When Skye had come to her to apologize for lying about Miles and the Rising Tide, Jemma could of sworn there was something about Skye’s apology that was different for her than for everyone else. There was more desperation in her voice, something different.

Then Skye had _kissed_ her. Jemma should have reacted more. She should have said something when Skye rushed out of the room apologizing.

Skye had taken the opportunity to stay with Simmons when Fitz had gone up the stairs. Skye could tell that they had gotten into something. The situation was high stress. She couldn’t even _begin_ to imagine what Fitz was probably feeling.

“Can’t you just make it stronger?” Skye asked. She knew that it probably didn’t made sense, but all she could think about was making sure that Jemma stayed _alive_. She wasn’t a scientist. All she knew was that Simmons needed hope. “Just take the cells or whatever from the firefighters. Isn’t that how you solve it?”

“There’s no one to create an antiserum from, because nobody’s actually survived this,” Simmons responded. It took everything in her will not to cry.

Skye could tell that Simmons was trying to keep it together. All her words sounded forced. She was explaining it to Skye because she knew the other girl needed it, not because she wanted to say it. “Except…” Simmons trailed off and Skye knew something had changed.

“Except who?” Skye asked.

_Hope_.

Yes, that’s what they needed. Just a glimpse of hope.

“The Chitauri,” Jemma trailed off while she stared at Skye. “They had the virus and survived without ever having the electro-magnetic pulse because—“

“He was immune!” Skye interrupted. Her eyes had widened.

They could fix this.

“She was just the carrier. Like Typhoid Mary,” Jemma said. She had gotten closer to the glass and Skye just waited to see what she needed to do. “And maybe if I can scrape some cells from the inside of the helmet…”

“You could make an antiserum,” Skye said as realization passed over her face. They needed the helmet. Skye didn’t care what else Jemma said. She was off towards the helmet. She had to get the helmet. Simmons needed it to survive.

Skye wouldn’t let her die.

* * *

Skye didn’t pay any attention to anyone she passed on her way to get the helmet. They wouldn’t be able to stop her anyways. When Skye set her mind on something that was it. There was no way that she would let Jemma give up hope. Jemma needed the helmet to make an antiserum.

She didn’t think twice before opening the door to the lab with the helmet. Coulson was following her, but it made no matter to her.

“Skye!” Jemma’s voice was high as she scolded her. “No, you can’t be in here.”

“Already am,” Skye replied as she set down the containment box in the lab. “I’m not letting you go through this alone.”

“If I touch you…”

“Just keep your hands off of me until after,” Skye said with a smile, trying to lighten up the situation.

Jemma didn’t argue any further after that. Skye knew that she didn’t have the proper training for _any_ of this, so she kept herself close in case she could be handy. Ever once in a while, Fitz would yell something at her from behind the glass wall and she’d comply. Jemma’s gaze kept flickering to her and Skye could only smile in reassurance. They were going to fix this.

Jemma would _not_ die today. It wasn’t a possibility.

The reality of the time sunk in as she watched everyone pace outside of the lab. It wasn’t only her that this was affecting. Fitz looked positively broken as he watched in horror. Even May seemed truly concerned. “Everything will be okay,” Skye reassured softly as she saw Jemma’s gaze glance up towards theirs. “We’re gonna fix this.”

Then there was a lot of waiting as the _thingy_ (as Skye called it in her head) just spun. Skye would make sure to ask what it did later—but for now, she didn’t dare to ask. When Jemma finally opened it, the tube floated into the air. Skye could feel the panic coming from Jemma as it dropped. Skye was so grateful that she was able to catch the one before it dropped on the ground. Jemma sighed in relief before grabbing it slowly as she made sure not to touch Skye in the process.

“Okay,” Jemma started as she fumbled trying to get the antiserum into the gun-thingy that Fitz had designed. “One of these is for the rat,” Jemma said as she set one of the guns on the table before grabbing the other tube from the _thingy_ and showing it to Skye. “And this one is for me.”

Skye felt like she couldn’t breathe as Jemma reached into the tank and grabbed the rat.

“Third times the charm,” Fitz quipped in from outside of the lab as Jemma zapped the rat.

Nothing.

A few moments and nothing happened. Skye didn’t want to jinx it, so she stayed quiet as the rest of the Bus did as well. Then Jemma looked up at her and she could _see_ the absolute relief in the other girl. Not only in her eyes, but her posture and face.

“We did it.”

Then a small-relieved laugh came from Simmons and Skye could breathe again.

They did it.

Jemma wasn’t going to die. She smiled—but it was too soon.

Before she could even see what was happening, the rat was floating mid air. All relief and hope drained quickly from Jemma’s face. Skye couldn’t stop the tears from coming as she watched Jemma react.

_No_.

Skye didn’t realize she had said it out loud until Jemma moved away from her. Her head shook as she watched Jemma walk towards the glass wall.

* * *

“ _Sir_ ,” Jemma started as she finally spoke. She didn’t think she would be able to with the lump in her throat. That was her last hope. Now, there was nothing she could do.

She was going to die.

There were no more possibilities. All of her experiments had failed. No one survived this.

“I know the protocol in these… circumstances. But could you please tell my dad first. I just think my mum will take it better if it comes from him.”

Goodness.

How were her parents going to take this? Her Mum… Her poor Mum. Jemma was her only child. She knew that once she died… Jemma didn’t even want to think about what her parents would feel like. All she could do was try to protect them. Her dad would be the strong one. He would be able to keep her mum calm throughout everything.

Jemma needed to plan for what would happen _after_ now.

She already knew what she needed to do.

“We’re not there yet. There’s still time.”

There was the hope. Agent Coulson had this spectacular reputation. He had come back from the _dead_. Jemma wouldn’t be so lucky. She wasn’t anything like Coulson. She was a level 5 scientist. Her life… it wasn’t vital.

Nobody other than her family and people on the Bus would mourn her.

Nobody would even notice that she was gone.

She was disposable.

“Sir, _please_ ,” Jemma couldn’t handle the hope anymore. She knew that there wasn’t time left.

The final countdown had started.

Jemma didn’t have time anymore for hope. Now was the time to make sure she said _everything_ she needed to before she had to go.

As soon as Coulson nodded, Jemma moved to look at Fitz. _Oh, Fitz._

_Her_ Fitz.

Her _best_ friend. They hadn’t been separated since entering the academy. She had to wipe the tears away from her eyes before she looked at Fitz. He was mumbling under his breath, his forehead was pressed against the glass door.

“You finally got it right, Fitz,” Jemma said softly as she heard him say _something_ about the “antiserum”. She couldn’t have a big goodbye with Fitz. It would break both of them. They knew how much they cared ( _loved_ ) for one another. He was like the brother she never had. “Could you please… could you please go up and get my phone for me?”

It was just an excuse to get him to leave. She couldn’t have him seeing what was going to happen. This way, she didn’t have to go through a fight with him.

He stared at her for a moment before he nodded and made his way up the stairs.

“Keep him away,” Jemma begged as she locked eyes with May for the first time. She gave a solemn nod. It was all Jemma needed to know she could trust her. May wouldn’t let Fitz interfere or see. “Would you mind if I had a brief moment alone with Skye?”

Jemma didn’t wipe her tears away when she turned to look at Skye. She didn’t need to be the strong one for her like she did for Fitz.

“What can I do?” Skye asked. She was blindsided. She didn’t know what to do in these sorts of circumstances. Skye would do _anything_ to make sure that Jemma stayed alive.

They had just barely gotten to know each other.

“I should have kissed you back,” Jemma commented softly as she leaned against one lab table. Her eyes stayed connected to looking at Skye’s face. “When you kissed me the other night, I should have kissed you back. I’ve been wanting to ever since that night.”

“Simmons…” Skye said as she moved towards Jemma, but Jemma quickly brought a hand up.

“You can’t touch me,” she reminded. She could see that it was a hard rule for Skye to follow. They couldn’t touch. Jemma _wouldn’t_ let Skye have the same fate as her.

Jemma didn’t want to go with the regrets, but there was no way that she could kiss her now. Her chance had gone.

“It’s okay,” Skye whispered. The tears were going down both of their faces. “We can—we can figure out another way. You can’t… you can’t _die_.”

Jemma’s eyes shut at the words.

She couldn’t turn down Skye’s hope like she had with Coulson. Skye hadn’t been through the academy. She hadn’t been exposed to the protocols. It wasn’t fair to Skye, but it was reality. She couldn’t bring herself to destroy the other girl’s hope. “Tell me,” Jemma said softly as she opened her eyes. “What could have happened?”

“I’m going to take you out,” Skye said. She wasn’t going to believe that Jemma would die. She would do all of this stuff. They would figure it out. “I’m going to take you out and then we’ll drink _a lot_. I’ll kiss you against my van and you’ll go weak in the knees.”

That made Jemma laugh a bit. It was a sad laugh, but it was better than a sob. Simmons walked around Skye, but she continued to talk towards where Jemma had been. Maybe it was inspiring the other girl to try again.

“I’d make you wait until the third date before we did anything. And then Fitz would give us dirty looks. He’d be disappointed it wasn’t him that I was kissing against the lab table.”

Skye was going to talk again, but before she could, Jemma whispered “I’m sorry” and then she was hit by something _hard_ in the back of the head.

* * *

It didn’t take Skye long to wake back up ( _or at least she didn’t think so_ ). “Simmons?” Skye asked dazed as she held a hand to the back of her throbbing neck.

Then she saw the rat.

The very _alive_ rat.

“It worked,” she mumbled as she brought herself to her feet slowly. “Simmons, it worked!” Her voice was excited until she looked around and the other girl wasn’t in the lab. No, it was only until she saw that the deck was open that everything clicked.

“Jemma?” she questioned as she moved towards the door. She didn’t know what had happened, but Jemma must have rigged it so that she _couldn’t_ open it. Then she saw her. Jemma was standing with her back towards her. Right at the edge.

Her voice would be gone from the amount of screaming that she did. Absolute soul wrenching _screaming_ as she watched Jemma turn towards her again.

It had worked.

The antiserum had worked—Jemma _couldn’t jump_.

But then she did _._

_Pure fear_.

It radiated through her as she sob / screamed.

Skye had to react. She wouldn’t just break down. The antiserum had worked. She moved as fast as she could to get the tube and put it in the gun like Simmons had showed her.

Jemma would _not_ die.

She didn’t remember much more than Grant grabbing the gun and running off of the deck after Jemma.

Her head throbbed, but not as much as her heart did. It was May who had to practically carry her back up from the cargo load. The broken sobs didn’t stop for an hour. Even Fitz seemed shell-shocked. There was no expression on his face. Skye would have seen the tears in his eyes if she had been able to do anything but curl on the couch and wait for news.

All they got was Grant’s GPS from the parachute. There was nothing else. They all had to wait to see until the Morcaccion office called.

Had Grant saved her?

Had she gotten the antidote on time?

The answers didn’t come for two hours.

But Skye wouldn’t be able to breathe until she saw Jemma.

* * *

“Actually that’s not quite it. It’s a bit more nasally than that,” Jemma teased Ward before she noticed Skye standing behind him. Jemma wasn’t sure what to expect when she walked back into the plane. It had been Coulson whom had pulled them into his office first thing. And after the stern-talking to that she had received, Jemma wasn’t sure what everyone else’s reaction would be.

Especially her.

“Oh, hello Skye,” Jemma said as the smile fell from her face. They had left things… not so greatly. Jemma had just hit her in the back of the head with a fire extinguisher. That wasn’t exactly very polite of her. Jemma didn’t know whether to apology or say nothing. But when Skye reached her, it was all hugs.

Skye _clung_ to Jemma’s neck as Jemma quickly returned the ferocity of the embrace.

Because she had almost died.

She had almost died and _left_ the beginning that she was starting with Skye.

“Don’t you _ever_ do that again,” Skye threatened without releasing her tight grip around Jemma ( _Jemma wouldn’t have let her go anyways_ ).

All Jemma could do was nod and whisper out apologies over and over again. It must have been minutes before the embrace ended and her eyes opened again. Ward had obviously taken the sign that they needed time alone because he was long gone by the time they pulled away from one another. She definitely wasn’t expecting the hit she got on her arm when the embrace was over.

“Ow!” She complained as she brought her hand up to rub the sore spot that occurred.

“You _idiot_ ,” Skye exclaimed. Jemma could see the redness of the other girl’s eyes. She was filled with regret as she realized the amount of fear that must have been going through Skye when she jumped. She hadn’t wanted the girl to see that image. “You don’t just jump out of airplanes. What if Ward hadn’t…” Skye trailed off and Jemma glanced down ashamed. She had just been trying to do what was best for the team. She saw that she was wrong now.

“Hey…” Skye took a step towards her. Her hands cupped Jemma’s face as she lifted it to meet her gaze. “ _Please_ don’t do that again.”

Jemma kissed her.

There was no other reaction that would have been as appropriate. Jemma regretted not being able to do it earlier. Now she could and she wouldn’t waste the opportunity. “I’m sorry,” Jemma said softly as she pulled back from the kiss.

“And then Ward jumped out of the plane…”

Jemma shook her head quickly as she pulled the other girl tighter in with her hands on Skye’s hips. “Ward isn’t the one who gave me hope when I had none. He’s not the one I want to push me against a van and kiss me,” Jemma blushed at her own words that caused a smile to appear on Skye’s face. “ _You’re_ the hero, Skye.”

Skye was the one to kiss Jemma this time.

Yes.

And heroes _always_ got the girl in the end. 


End file.
